SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT

The development of the software industry in India and the particular role that it plays in the global economy has been influenced by a number of different factors, as outlined in the previous section. As emphasised by the global commodity chains approach, government policies also play an important role in industrial development and in creating an enabling environment for the integration of local industries in the global economy. In the case of India, policy has indeed played an important role in the development of the software industry.

Policy makers set out to encourage software exports very early on. Simultaneously, they pushed to create and foster a domestic hardware industry. These dual objectives, however, led to some policy contradictions, which placed some obstacles in front of software developers and potential entrants into the industry, and may have delayed its development. In the 1990s, policy-making vis-à-vis the industry seems to have changed significantly. It now seems to be playing more of a facilitating role. Policy is no longer used to create certain results but to support and react to the industry's needs.

This section will highlight the policy changes that have occurred in India in the last three decades in relation to information technology. It will focus particularly on the policy environment in the late 1980s and early 1990s, in an effort to assess the extent to which policy changes may have been responsible for the boom in the Indian software industry

Software development methodology : - A software development methodology is a framework that is used to structure, plan, and control the process of developing information systems. A wide variety of such frameworks have evolved over the years, each with its own recognized strengths and weaknesses. One system development methodology is not necessarily suitable for use by all projects. Each of the available methodologies is best suited to specific kinds of projects, based on various technical, organizational, project and team considerations.

Recent trends in the sector : - Given the rapid growth of this sector, several companies have started to use offshore development in China, India and other countries with a lower cost per developer model. Several new Web 2.0 platforms and sites are now developed offshore while management is located in Western countries. The advantages mostly revolve around better cost-control over the process, which means that there is lower cash-outflow (often the biggest struggle for startups). Furthermore, the time difference when working with India and China for the Western world allows work to be done round the clock adding a competitive advantage. Notable firms that are involved in development include Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, Wipro, and Satyam.